Three separate fabricators in Italy make road tankers for bitumen and other loads using Outokumpu’s duplex grade LDX 2101®. Bitumen is an important construction material: each year well over 80 million tons of it is used worldwide for paving, primarily in the construction and maintenance of roads. Bitumen (or, asphalt in US terminology) is a residue obtained from the distillation process of crude oil. Bitumen is transported to construction sites in insulated road tankers, made out of stainless steel. Stainless steel tankers are stronger, lighter and safer than other types of tanker. F.lli Mazzariol S.r.l., Officine Meccaniche B.S. S.r.l., and Bomben Ferruccio & C. S.r.l. are three experienced Italian road tanker fabricators who have used 1.4301-type austenitic stainless steel (ASTM 304) to make road tankers for bitumen, as well as other substances including fuel oils and liquid waste. All three have recently found a successful alternative to 1.4301 in these applications – Outokumpu’ proprietary duplex grade LDX 2101® – thanks to the efforts of stainless steel specialists from Outokumpu’s Italian sales company. They have convinced the fabricators that LDX 2101® makes an even stronger and lighter road tanker owing to its high mechanical strength, typical of all duplex grades. The high strength allows for considerable reductions in material thickness and, as a result, in weight. Mazzariol first tested LDX 2101® to make one tanker head, with the help of on-site technical assistance from Outokumpu. Assured of the mechanical behavior and welding characteristics of the duplex material, Mazzariol rolled out its first LDX 2101® bitumen road tanker in February 2007. Meccaniche B.S. followed, completing its first LDX 2101® bitumen road tanker a month later. Switching to duplex, Bomben Ferruccio has managed to reduce material thickness from 8mm to 6mm in tanker heads and from 6mm to 5mm in tanker shells.
